Wal-Mart to focus on food ‘upstreaming’ agenda by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Earlier this month Wal-Mart quietly opened a sorting and culling operation in Los Angeles…Insiders at Wal-Mart said the new center in California is similar to an operation in McAllen, Texas…For instance if product can be purchased green and stored there for ripening. Or, if there is product that certain stores want by customer request such as smaller than specified Roma tomatoes then Wal-Mart could buy the whole field.” Read more

 

Amazon First Quarter Sales up 15% to $22.72 Billion  Read the release

 

Proposed Target store could cause controversy in this upscale San Francisco neighborhood by Annie Sciacca at San Francisco Business Times. “Village Properties…is in talks with Target to open a store at the location at 1600 Jackson Street, according to Village Properties President Rob Isackson….Isackson said he doesn’t have a lease with Target, but he has talked to them.” Read more

 

Sears Canada Looks to Cash In On Target’s Retreat by Marina Strauss at Globe & Mail. “The U.S.-owned department-store retailer has picked up two fashion lines that Target had exclusive rights to carry in Canada: Cherokee apparel and shoes and Liz Lange maternity clothing…it will launch a Wayne Gretzky men’s apparel collection this fall.” Read more

 

Amazon Online Visits Over Double Wal-Mart’s by Douglas A. McIntyre at 24/7 Wall Street. “According to new data from online research firm comScore, Amazon’s March unique visitors in the United States, a number that includes mobile and desktop users, reached 175.1 million. Wal-Mart’s comparable figure was 81.9 million.” Read more

 

…Top 50 Digital Properties Ranked by Visits via comScore.  See the rankings

 

Do-it-yourself Girl Scout Cookies coming to Walmart, Target at CNN Money. “We’re excited to disrupt a toy category that’s been dominated for years by one product,” said Michael Rinzler, co-founder of the toy startup Wicked Cool Toys, which won a licensing deal with the Girl Scouts organization to make the oven…The oven is for kids 8 and up and will be priced at $59.99, including one cookie pack. The cookie mix packs are sold separately” Read more / See the pics

 

Cabela’s Q1 US Comp Sales -0.4%, Plans to Open 11 More New Stores this Fiscal Year  Read the release

 

…Cabela’s Pushes ‘Disconnect Day’ by Sarah Mahoney at MediaPost. “The pledge also helps people set an “Out of Office” generator, prompting a calendar reminder, as well as gear lists. Afterwards, the chain encourages them to share pictures on social media with the #MyDisconnectDay hashtag.” Read more  See the TV spot

 

Macy’s CEO on CNBC: “With consumers in “good shape,” Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren discusses the outlook for retail and Macy’s pipeline, with CNBC’s Courtney Reagan” See the video

 

Study: E-commerce Penetration of Total Sales (Restoration Hardware 50%, Nordstrom 15%, Costco 3%) at CNBC. See the rankings

 

P&G to cut thousands of jobs in next 2 years by Alexander Coolidge at Cincinnati.com. “Procter & Gamble will cut another 3,000 to 6,000 office jobs worldwide in the next two years, senior executives said Thursday.” Read more

 

Tesco Will Cut One-Third of its Products from Shelves by Dina Spector at Business Insider. “Tesco currently has 90,000 different products (including 28 different ketchups, compared to Aldi’s one), but Lewis is looking to push that number down to around 60,000.” Read more

 

Tractor Supply Q1 2015 Conference Call Transcript via The Street. Read the transcript

 

…Tractor Supply Company CFO Sells $2,035,069.08 in Stock via WKRB.  Read more

 

Instacart Finally Tells You When It’s Charging You More Than Stores by Jason Del Rey at Recode. “(CEO Apoorva) Mehta said the majority of products on Instacart are now priced the same as they are in stores, though there are exceptions. In Manhattan, for example, Instacart is marking up items from Costco by 15 percent or more, according to a new disclosure on the site. This likely means that Instacart hasn’t yet reached an agreement for Costco to pay Instacart a commission on sales.” Read more

 

Q&A with Doug McMillon: Seeing the Future Through Customers’ Eyes via Walmart.com.  See the video / Read more

 

How a maple syrup rebellion is rising in Quebec by Peter Kuitenbrouwer at Financial Post. “Backed by the Quebec justice system and the provincial police, sheriffs have raided sugar shacks down country roads and seized barrels of maple syrup, using trucks and front-end loaders…“They have more power than police,” says Daniel Gaudreau, a syrup producer in Scotstown, Que. “They can come into my house anytime they want.” Read more

 

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